TRIP TO LA RETRAITE
TRIP TO LA RETRAITE ON THE 12TH MARCH Andie, Hawa, Deborah and Zena were all supposed to meet outside the gates of La Retraite at 1pm sharp. Unfortunately due to poor communication amongst the group we were unable to get there for the desinated time, insead we go there at 1:30pm. This however worked to our advantage because the Ms. McFarlane who's the Head of Year 8 wasn't expecting our arrival. Apparently there was some sort of confusion between her and another teacher as to whethere we were coming or not. Ms. McFarlane took us to the school's chapel, which consisted of 15 Year 8 girls. They'd all been involved in bullying in shape or form. We started off our presentstion by introducing ourselves to the girls and having them introduce themselves to us. We took this approach inorder to make the girls comfortable as they were somewhat unsettled and uncertain about why they were there. The PowerPoint Present was our guide throughout our discussion with the girls. The definition of bullying was brain stormed in detail and the various types of bullying. To our surprise the girls were un aware of the types of bullying. Many of them didnt appreciate that bullying impacts both the bully and the victim. Statistics and videos were also used that day to educate the girls on the effects of bullying and to make them aware of of the different affects which it has on people. In the beginning the girls had asssured themslves that there was nothing that could be done about bullying.Throughout the presentation however, many of them began to speak out. Some who were infact bullies explained that they felt about thier actions and also siad to us that they were simply helping their friends out who were also being bullied. When we herd this we made the girls understand that thier actions where indeed thoughful but "Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right". We made them aware that they themselves had become bullies. The biggest achievement on the trip was that the victims (the girls who had been bullied) said that they are more confident in themselves. The bullies summed up that bullying was down to insecurity and they had changed their views and opnions o bullying. They believed that there is room for change and that bullying can be reduced greatly. After the Year 8 girls had filled in the questionnaires we handed out to them they said that they lacked confidence in their school teachers and prefered it if they had counsellors around our ages 19-20. The girls had also said that during 'National Bullying Day' they drew pictures but they were not made aware of the seriouness of bullying. The information that we gahered from the questionnnaire will be inserted and shown ino our campaign's presentation. Pictures visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=111932495548259&aid=21869 Writen by Zena ZenaBlandMDX 19:33, March 21, 2011 (UTC) Questionnaire Student Bullying Questionnaire Tell us about yourself I am a ❐ Boy ❐ Girl Have you ever been bullied ? ❐ No, I have never been bullied ❐ Yes, I have been bullied a little bit ❐ Yes, I have been bullied a lot What kind of bullying was it ? (you can tick more than one box) ❐ I have never been bullied ❐ Name calling ❐ Left out or excluded by other children ❐ Punched or pushed ❐ Nasty stories told about me ❐ Asked to give up money or belongings ❐ Being sent nasty text messages or through the internet ❐ Forced to do something I didn’t want to do ❐ Teased about the way I look ❐ Because of my religion ❐ Because of my ethnicity or race